MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The vast majority of Russians, or 89 percent, believe that their country’s response to the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats worldwide over the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, allegedly orchestrated by Moscow, was appropriate, a poll conducted by the (VTsIOM) showed on Friday.

Meanwhile, the poll also found that 87 percent of Russians thought that it was the West, which had exacerbated the diplomatic scandal to weaken Russia’s positions on the global stage, and only 3 percent believed that the expulsions were triggered by the Skripal case.

The incident involving the Skripals took place on March 4. London has said that the Skripals were exposed to the hazardous substance A234 and accused Russia of having carried out the attack. Moscow, in turn, has denied these claims, pointing to the lack of proof of its role in the incident.

The allegations against Russia have already resulted in a wide-scale diplomatic crisis. The United Kingdom and more than 25 other countries which supported its claims have collectively expelled over 150 Russian diplomats. In response, Moscow also announced that it would expel foreign diplomats.

The poll was conducted on April 6-7 among 2,000 respondents. The margin of error did not exceed 2.2 percent.